Weight Loss & Obesity News & Features

Delays were especially common for patients on Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income Americans. These patients were three times more likely than people with private insurance to be among those  with the longest delays -- typically waiting for over 200 days.

British scientists found that young adults who had a higher body mass index (BMI) -- an estimate of body fat based on height and weight -- had higher blood pressure and thickened heart muscle.

Half of Americans Trying to Slim Down By Amy NortonHealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, July 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- In a country where four out of 10 adults are obese, it's probably good news that half of U.S. adults say they've recently tried to shed some pounds.They did this most often through exercise, cutting calories and eating their fruits and veggies, according to a new government survey that tracked Americans' weight-loss attempts between 2013 and 2016.Overall, 49 percent of respondents said they'd tried to lose weight in the past year -- including two-thirds of those who were obese.As

People who overweight and obese hold starkly different views on diet and exercise than their normal-weight peers, making it difficult for them to get to a healthy weight, a new study finds.

People that live in rural areas are being hit harder by the U.S. obesity epidemic than city dwellers, two new government studies show.

Among U.S. men, for example, the rising rates of overweight and obesity seen since 1999 leveled off between 2009 and 2012. But they took off again in 2015-2016, when 75 percent of men were overweight or obese.

A new federal government survey found that about one-quarter of Americans "acquire" nearly 1,300 calories at work every week. Even worse, the survey only included foods people didn't bring to work themselves, and food they didn't purchase from outside vendors.

Just over 60 percent of those ages 6 to 11 months averaged just under 1 teaspoon of added sugar a day. That rose to 98 percent among those babies 12 to 18 months, who averaged 5.5 teaspoons of added sugar a day.

Twelve people have died from complications related to weight-loss balloons. While the total number of deaths is small compared to the number of procedures, it is high enough for the FDA to issue a warning.

Doctors had expected it to be 12 lbs and were surprised that it was actually 30 lbs.

A new review found that certain cancers associated with people over 50 now affect people at younger ages more frequently. And obesity may be to blame.

One of the new studies tracked the relationship histories of nearly 2,000 obese Swedes who underwent weight-loss surgery over 10 years. The investigators compared the patients with about 1,900 obese adults who did not have surgery.

The nerve's proper name is the posterior vagal trunk and it's part of the larger vagus nerve that's linked with the heart, lungs and digestive system, ABC News reported.

Meanwhile, about 18.5 percent of kids were obese in 2015-2016, compared with 17 percent in 2007-2008.

In the study, the researchers found that people with a BMI between 22 and 23 had the lowest risk of heart disease.

While obesity raises heart attack risk in both sexes, women with bigger waists and waist-to-hip ratios have greater odds for a heart attack than men who have a similar apple-shaped body, a large British study finds.

By the end of the study period, the investigators found a wide range of results. Some dieters lost as much as 60 pounds, while others gained as much as 20.

Cutting back on calorie consumption is likely to spark changes that permanently boost appetite among obese men and women, Norwegian researchers report.

Widely used manmade chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may undermine dieters' attempts to maintain weight loss by slowing down the body's metabolism, the new study suggests.

The study linked those simple changes to a smaller waist, and lower rates of obesity and overweight.

Doctors usually recommend patients try different types of diet and exercise for at least five years before considering weight-loss surgery.

The researchers say their findings may help explain why high obesity rates in the United States tend to cluster in certain geographic areas.

Although vegetarian eating does have a stellar health reputation, recent news has focused on what could be bad about vegetarian diets and more stringent vegan plans, including reports of hair loss and depression.

A new study suggests that even those who carry an inherited predisposition to pack on excess pounds are not destined to become obese.

For the study, researchers tracked 242 adolescents for three years after they had weight-loss surgery.